Cabinet for storing microscopic slides

ABSTRACT

A COMPACT, SWIVEL MOUNTED CABINET FOR STORING MICROSCOPIC SLIDES, COMPRISING A HOUSING HAVING OPPOSITE SIDE WALLS EACH PROVIDED WITH DRAWER-RECEIVING OPENINGS AND ARRANGED IN VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ROWS, SAID OPENINGS LEADING INTO RECESSES, THE DRAWER-RECEIVING OPENINGS AND RECESSES OF THE HORIZONTAL ROWS OF ONE OF THE SIDE WALL BEING LOCATED ON DIFFERENT LEVELS THAN THE OPENINGS AND RECESSES OF THE HORIZONTAL ROWS OF THE OPPOSITE SIDE WALL, VERTICAL PARTITIONS AND DRAWER SUPPORTING FLOORS DEFINING EACH RECESS. THE SLIDE CONTAINING DRAWERS COMPRISE BOTTOM, SIDE AND INNER END WALLS AND HAVE A DOWNWARDLY INCLINED TAB CONNECTED TO THE FORWARD END OF THE BOTTOM WALL FOR USE IN IDENTIFYING THE CONTENTS AND ALSO FOR WITHDRAWING THE DRAWER FROM ITS RECESS.

July 4, 1972 D. s. c. SANDERSON 3,674,358

CABINET FOR STORING MICROSCOPIC SLIDES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 23, 1970 INVENTOR. DEWEY S. C. SANDERSON ATTORNEY y 4, 1972 D. s. c. SANDERSON 3,674,358

CABINET FOR STORING MICROSCOPIC SLIDES Filed Sept. 23, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2? 28 22 27 25 28 JFngp-fl INVENTOR. DEWEY S. C. SANDERSON ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofice 3,674,358 Patented July 4, 1972 US. Cl. 312-126 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A compact, swivel mounted cabinet for storing microscopic slides, comprising a housing having opposite side walls each provided with drawer-receiving openings arranged in vertical and horizontal rows, said openings leading into recesses, the drawer-receiving openings and recesses of the horizontal rows of one of the side walls being located on ditferent levels than the openings and recesses of the horizontal rows of the opposite side wall; vertical partitions and drawer supporting floors defining each recess. The slide containing drawers comprise bottom, side and inner end walls and have a downwardly inclined tab connected to the forward end of the bottom wall for use in identifying the contents and also for withdrawing the drawer from its recess.

This invention relates to a cabinet for storing microscopic slides such as the glass slides used in medical laboratories and hospitals for the microscopic examination of surgical and autopsy tissue sections, bacteriological smears, peripheral blood smears, and cytological and other smears.

The main object of the invention is to provide compact storage means for the purpose stated in which slides may be filed for quick identification and access, speedy removal or replacement, or be permanently stored. The cabinet of my invention is portable and provides means for holding the slides in selected locations in the cabinet while being moved from one place to another.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cabinet for the purpose stated which is compact, designed for holding a large number of slides in a plurality of drawers some of which are accessible through openings in one major side of the cabinet and others of which are accesible through openings in the opposite side of the cabinet.

Another advantage of the invention is that the cabinet is provided with a base which permits the user to swivel the cabinet so that the slide holding drawers are conveniently accessible from either side. The cabinet is quickly removable from the base which may be used as a base for other similar cabinets when the first cabinet is ready for storage.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational side view, partly in section, of a cabinet for storing microscopic slides, embodying my invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the side of the cabinet opposite that shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an elevational end view of the cabinet.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view in the plane of the line 44 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view in the plane of the line 55 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is an isometric view, on an enlarged scale, of one of the plurality of slide receiving drawers which are part of the cabinet.

FIG. 7 is a front elevational view of an auxiliary cabinet which may be used by technicians for filing slides preparatory to storing slides in the cabinet of my invention.

FIG. 8 is a transverse vertical sectional view in the plane of the line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing a modification of the drawer construction.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, the slide storage cabinet is designated 10 as a whole. It comprises atop wall 11, bottom 12, two end walls 13, a major side or front Wall 14 as viewed in FIG. 1, and another major side or rear wall 15 shown in FIG. 2, a handle 16 on the top 11, slide indicia markers 17, and a pocket 18 on each end wall 13 for receiving removable closure members (to be described hereinafter) when not in use.

The cabinet 10 is removably supported on a platform 20 provided with side tongues 21 on the longitudinal edges for engaging grooves in the cabinet 10, as shown in FIG. 3, and a base 22 on which the platform is mounted by any suitable means (not shown) for swivel motion of the supporting platform 20 on the base 22.

The cabinet sides 14 and 15, which may be referred to as the front and rear sides, are alike excepting that they have drawer receiving openings and recesses arranged in horizontal rows at different levels. Thus the side 14 has a greater area above the recesses and the side 15 has a greater area below the recesses about to be described. As shown, each of the two sides has twenty one recesses 25 extending inwardly from its vertical face, arranged in three horizontal rows of seven recesses each. The horizontal rows of recesses 25 alternate in that the openings of seven recesses in one row face the front 14 and the openings of seven recesses in the next horizontal row face the rear side face 15.

The recesses 25 of the horizontal rows are separated from each other by vertical walls 26 each of which has a retaining strip 27 attached to its exposed edge for removably retaining a transparent closure member 28 having an end 29 extending upwardly beyond the front face 14 or rear face 15 of the cabinet. The transparent closure member 28 closes the openings leading into the recesses 25.

The recesses 25 of vertical rows are separated from each other by drawer supporting floors 30 which are inclined from the front face 14 downwardly toward a rear wall 31 in alternate rows, and are inclined from the face 15 downwardly toward a rear wall 32 in the adjacent horizontal rows. As shown in FIG. 5, the floors 30 of each of the recesses 25 in a vertical row, the rear walls 31 of the recesses which open toward the cabinet side 14, and the rear walls 32 of the recesses which open toward the cabinet side 15, may be made of connected pieces of any suitable material or be molded integrally to fit between vertical walls 26'.

Each of the recesses 25 receives a drawer 35 supported on the inclined recess floor 30. Each drawer 35 comprises a bottom 36, sides 37, closed end 38, and a front tab 39 inclined downwardly from the bottom 36 at the open end of the drawer, as shown in FIG. 6. The drawers 35 of alternate horizontal rows incline downwardly in their recesses from their openings in the cabinet walls 14 and 15.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show an auxiliary cabinet 40, as a whole, comprising a base 41 having an inclined floor 42 for a first row of recesses 43, an inclined rear wall 44, and an inclined floor 45 for an upper row of recesses 43 for receiving drawers 35.

In FIG. 9, a modified drawer 50 is similar to the drawer 35 of FIG. 6 but is provided with side walls 52 which have horizontally extending ribs on their inner faces. The ribs on the sides 52 aid in preventing movement of the slides in their drawers 50 and are useful in spacing the slides from each other.

The storage cabinets may 'be identified by dates, or by subject matter of the slides or other indicia on the markers 17. p

In medical laboratories and hospitals a number of technicians may handle microscopic slides and may file them temporarily in auxiliary cabinets 40, preparatory to the transfer of the slides to the storage cabinet 10. The drawers 35 of the storage cabinet 10 and auxiliary cabinet 40 are interchangeable so that drawers and contents may be transferred as well as individual slides.

I claim:

1. A cabinet for storing microscopic slides comprising (a) a housing having top, bottom, end, and opposite side Walls, each of the side walls being provided with drawer-receiving openings arranged in vertical and horizontal rows, the drawer-receiving openings of each horizontal row in one of the side walls being located on a level below the level of the openings of a horizontal row of the opposite side Wall,

(b) vertical partitions between the openings of the horizontal rows extending from one side wall to the opposite side wall of the housing,

(c) drawer supporting floors between the vertical walls which cooperate with said vertical walls to form drawer-receiving recesses extending inwardly from the openings in each side wall, said drawer-supporting floors being inclined downwardly from. the openings in each side wall, and

(d) drawers removably positioned in said recesses for receiving microscopic slides, retaining strips fastened to the edges of the vertical walls, and transparent closure members removably inserted between two retaining strips, and each closure member continuously covering the drawer-receiving openings of a vertical row of openings in a side wall.

2. The cabinet defined by claim 1, wherein each of said closure members has an upper end protruding beyond the uppermost opening of a vertical row of openings covered by said closure member.

3. The cabinet defined by claim 1, which includes a base, means on the base and bottom of the housing engaging each other for detachable mounting of the housing on the base, and swivel means between the housing and the base for swivel movement of the housin,g exposing either side wall to the user of the device.

4. The cabinet defined by claim 3, which includes a platform having tongues on its opposite side edges, and in which the housing bottom has longitudinally extending grooves in which the tongues are slidable.

5. The cabinet defined by claim 2 which includes pockets slightly longer and wider than each of the transparent closure members attached to the end walls of the housing for receiving said closure members when said members are not in use for covering the openings in a vertical row of openings in a side wall of the cabinet.

6. The cabinet defined by claim 1, which includes vertical end walls integral with said drawer-supporting floors, one of said vertical end walls extending upwardly from one end of a floor and another of said vertical end walls extending downwardly from the opposite end of said floor.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,898,171 8/1959 Ehlert et al. 312-122 2,964,371 12/1960 Todd et al. 312-122 X 1,653,530 12/1927 Abracninsky 312-122 X 2,283,301 5/1942 Waddell 312-118 2,683,642 7/1954 Stoleson 312-283 X 1,414,505 5/1922 Ede 312-286 2,242,296 5/ 1941 Fraser 312-234 X 1,521,764 1/ 1925 Graver 248-346 X 1,787,552 1/1931 Rice 312-287 X FOREIGN PATENTS 19,496 8/1897 Great Britain 312-135 PAUL R. GILLIAM, Primary Examiner US. Cl. XJR. 

